Darkmoon(13)

I’d realized as I left the Planned Parenthood facility that it was my responsibility to tell the elders what was going on. Anything that affected me affected the clan as well, and hiding my condition from them wouldn’t do anyone any good, even if making such a confession to that trio was high on my list of extremely embarrassing situations I would rather have avoided.

“I’ve just…discovered something,” I began, wishing I didn’t sound quite so shaky and nervous. Then again, I probably had every right to be. Wishy-washy word choice, too, although I wasn’t sure what the best way to approach this might be. Blurting out “I’m pregnant” didn’t seem all that appealing, either. They were all adults, most of them with at least twenty years on me, although with Margot that number was probably closer to fifteen. I doubted they thought Connor and I had been spending our nights together in Flagstaff telling ghost stories and braiding each other’s hair.

“What is it?” Bryce asked. There was a note of worry in his voice already, and I thought that didn’t seem to be a very good sign. He was a strong warlock, gifted in magical defense, but he also had a quick temper. His reaction was the one I feared the most.

Margot and Allegra remained silent, watching me. Margot’s expression was opaque, face bland and perfect as that of a mannequin, while Allegra’s features seemed to show a somewhat lively curiosity. That didn’t surprise me too much, as Allegra tended to be one of those people who was inquisitive about everything. Goddess knows her own children had never been able to get away with anything without her ferreting out the facts eventually.

I pulled in a breath, let it out, and said, “I’ve just found out that I’m pregnant.”

Silence. Deep, hideous silence. Margot’s face went even more still, if that were possible, and Bryce settled heavily against the back of his chair, as if someone had just struck him. Allegra tilted her head to one side and watched me, her mouth pursing slightly.

She was the one to break the silence. “And you need help getting rid of it?”

In a horrible way, it made sense that she’d been the one to ask the question. Her skill was with herbs and potions, and I’d heard rumors that she’d helped out a McAllister girl or two who’d found herself in my situation. Safer and quicker than the civilian equivalent of the procedure, but of course that wasn’t why I’d asked to speak with the three of them. If I had made such a decision, I would have approached her quietly, and alone.

Shaking my head, I replied, “No. I’m going to keep it.”

Bryce set his hands flat on the tabletop. They were strong and weathered, tanned by the harsh Arizona sun. “You’re not serious.”

“I am.” I sounded calm and in control, the antithesis of how I felt inside. Oh, well, in this case, I figured presentation was everything.

Allegra blinked. “But — ”

“But bearing a child to the Wilcox primus will kill me. I know.” The words came out flat, without inflection, just as I’d meant them to. I couldn’t let them hear the fear growing within me, growing just as surely as the baby inside my body.

“You can’t really be that selfish,” Margot said, tone harsh.

I glanced at her and raised my eyebrows. “‘Selfish’?” I repeated. “How is that selfish?”

“Your responsibility is to your clan, not to Connor Wilcox.” Her dark eyes seemed to bore into mine, and I had to force myself not to flinch under her stare. “It seems he’s made it abundantly clear that he wants nothing to do with you. So why deprive the McAllisters of their prima just to bear a child that will bring nothing but death?”

“It’s an innocent baby,” I protested. “It’s not as if it’s going to come out twirling a mustache and plotting to take over the world. It’s the curse that’s the problem, not the baby.”

“The child and the curse are linked,” Bryce said. “You can’t have one and not the other — not with the offspring of a Wilcox primus.”

That was no more than simple fact, I supposed, and in that moment I truly understood for the first time why Damon Wilcox had fought so hard against the dark destiny to which he’d been born, through no fault of his own. “Well, then, I guess I’ll just have to break the curse.”

Margot let out a cold little laugh. “And that’s worked out so well so far, hasn’t it?”

“Not for the Wilcoxes, no,” I admitted. Then my brain started to churn away as it pondered those words. True, no Wilcox had ever succeeded in undoing the curse cast so many years earlier, but technically, I wasn’t a Wilcox. And, as Connor’s cousin Marie had once pointed out, I wasn’t just any witch. I was prima of the McAllisters. “So maybe it’s time to apply a little McAllister ingenuity to the problem.”